Beginner Cichlid?

[Bettababe1011]

Would convicts be a good beginner cichlid? My dad is moving our old unused seventy five gallon tank to his apartment. I am trying to figure out what to stock it with. I'm thinking cichlids, but don't know which ones. Any suggestions or tips please?

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[mfdrookie516]

A 75g? Lots of possibilities. You could do just about any cichlid you want. If you want a lot, africans are the way to go. If you want a community, angels would be my choice.

What exactly do you mean by beginner? Seeing some of your posts, I wouldn't call you a beginner. If you're worried about sensitivity, I would stay away from discus for sure. Rams also seem to be hit or miss, especially GBR's.

Cichlids are such a broad range of fish, you have endless possibilities. Convicts are pretty aggressive and really limit what else you can have in the tank IMO.

 

[Bettababe1011]

Ok. With beginner I meant a first timer with cichlids. And thanks, but I actually only have a Betta and a cycling tank. What I know is basically from research or what I've seen on here. I'm a beginner in my actual experience with keeping fish. I'll look into Africans. The convicts are so cool looking, but yes, very aggressive. I guess as I do more research I'll figure it out. When I started planning for my twenty nine I was clueless as to what I wanted to stock it with, but I decided on one fish and found others that made good tankmates that I liked as well.

Courtesy of Dakota's iPod.

 

[mfdrookie516]

The thing is, africans are way more aggressive than convicts. A convict wouldn't stand a chance against an african. But.. Africans will do fine if kept with their own. You can easily keep 20 africans in a 75g tank if you provide the proper environment for them. Lots of rocks, good filtration, and a high quality food.

I don't care much for a lot of the south/central american cichlids just because you're so limited in how many you can have. Oscars, for example, get so large and are so aggressive, there are only a few fish you can put with them. Having 2 or 3 fish in a 75g tank just looks boring to me. It's all personal preference though. If you haven't already, check out cichlid-forum.com and go to their profiles section. They have info on just about every cichlid that has been discovered to date. Lots of good info in there.

 

[Bettababe1011]

Thank you.

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